Ek Ladki, Paanch Deevane

Theres a girl who was made young and clever by her admirers and the hungry gaze of the entire neighborhood; then theres a rat who sat at the bedside of a resident every night until it was given regular food; theres the famine festival, for which hoarders, profiteers, and bureaucracy hold rituals year-round, waiting for the famine to strike, for the prosperity to return... And then theres noses, not just one, but many kinds. Some are cut off, then they grow back, some so stubborn that no matter how hard you try, they cant be cut off; then theres a man with two people inside him; sometimes one dominates, sometimes the other. Rotten potatoes enter next. Theyve been in a basket since morning, but they havent been sold. When asked what theyll do now, they say theyll rebel. Even if they stay in the basket until midnight, they wont be sold. They also have self-respect. They seemed intellectuals, but a cheap hotel owner came and bought them. Apart from these, there are many characters and situations in this book which have been depicted by the ruthless pen of Parasai ji in the satirical stories collected here with all their ironies and distortions.